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MYOB finds a happy home with leading wholesaler

When leading Australian kitchen
appliance wholesaler Residentia wanted to upgrade to a full ERP
solution, MYOB Advanced was their preferred choice.

Background

Residentia Group is a leading supplier of electrical appliances to
retailers throughout Australia, including Bing Lee, Betta Electrical
and Buyrite Group. It’s carved out a strong position in the
marketplace; its turnover tripled in its second year of existence, and
has doubled in successive years since.

System slowing the business down

Residentia started out with a user-friendly, Cloud-based system.
Xero handled the financial management and an add-on called Unleashed
controlled the inventory. However, Residentia’s rapid growth soon
overtook the system’s capabilities.

“Xero’s performance in terms of speed was really slowing down at
peak times,” says Nathan. “For instance, we might want to process
about 500 invoices all at once and it couldn’t cope. Also there was a
discrepancy in the way that Unleashed and Xero valued stock – each
system would deliver a different figure.”

The discrepancies between Finance and Inventory meant staff were
often working outside the system on spreadsheets. Residentia’s
warehouses nationwide are managed by a third-party logistics firm, and
handling orders via email brought the risk of errors, which might not
be detected for some weeks.

Payment reconciliations were another laborious task and some of
Residentia’s larger customers wanted it to switch to EDI trading – a
difficult prospect with those separate systems.

"We wanted to be at the forefront of EDI."

Intergrated ERP in the Cloud

Residentia brought in a systems consultant to review its ERP
requirements. Microsoft Dynamics NAV and SAP Business One were both
considered and SAP was close to getting the nod before the MYOB
Partner suggested MYOB Advanced.

“It ticked more boxes for us than any of the other systems we looked
at, being a true Cloud-based system that was already set up for
Australian payroll,” says Nathan. “We could also see that it had the
capacity to handle future growth.”

Netstock was added for inventory optimisation and the B2B Gateway
for EDI and electronic communication with customers and the 3PL partner.

"Advanced ticked more boxes for us than any of the other systems we looked at."

Electronic trading delivers major effiencies

Residentia’s customers and suppliers are now connected
electronically. Automation of processes brings major savings in time
and paperwork; statements can be set up to run automatically and
formatted to suit each customer.

“That EDI integration is a huge benefit for us,” Nathan says.
”Netstock is another big positive for inventory management because
we’re truly able to forecast our requirements and see where we’ve got
too much stock.”

Advanced’s reporting capabilities deliver live information for a
proper view of the supply chain, customisable for individual needs.

The Cloud-based system is accessible from anywhere and a mobility
application is a big time-saver for the back-office, allowing sales
reps to file their expenses claims remotely. Advanced’s total
integration also enables smooth handling of foreign currency transactions.

Residentia doesn’t stand still; it has plans to expand into the New
Zealand and UK markets, and is looking to establish a sourcing office
in Asia. Advanced’s ability to handle multiple businesses and branches
will bring further benefits as the business continues to grow.

"Advanced’s data visibility is vastly better and the graphic displays are very helpful."